What ties all of this together—from “nothing is certain” to “unwavering determination”—is the command principle of Auftragstaktik. Usually translated today as “mission command,” the basic idea is simple. “War cannot be conducted from the green table,” Moltke wrote, using an expression that referred to top commanders at headquarters. “Frequent and rapid decisions can be shaped only on the spot according to estimates of local conditions.”8 Decision-making power must be pushed down the hierarchy so that those on the ground—the first to encounter surprises on the evolving battlefield—can respond
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